An early 1930s Gibson catalog informed players that the
guitar-banjo was "used most effectively in small dance combinations and of
especial value where a piano is not available." This 1931 guitar-banjo
is one
of only 33 such instruments produced according to Gibson historian Joe Spann.
The pot conforms to standard style 1 specifications for the
period apart from its grooved stretcher band with flat hooks, presumably used
because the neck notch in a notched stretcher band would not have been wide
enough to accommodate six strings. The maple neck has no volute, or
handstop, and the fingerboard has dot inlays rather than the fleur-de-lis pattern normally seen on the style 1
of this era. The guitar-shaped peghead has no inlay other than the old-style
silkscreened "The Gibson" logo.